THE extent of redundancy packages given to top officers at Surrey County Council (SCC) who left in the wake of the disastrous Ofsted report has been revealed.

Some £625,000 was handed to just eight employees made redundant since April 1 last year, including managers in children’s services.

The figures mean on average, each member of staff made redundant was given £78,000 in compensation. This compares to an average of just over £10,000 the year be-fore, and £16,000 in 2006/2007.

A number of high ranking officers, including director of families Andrew Webster, left the council last year after an Ofsted inspection found the authority’s children’s services to be inadequate.

The news emerged as SCC refused to drop its High Court appeal against Ofsted’s decision to award the authority one-star status in children’s services. This judgment led to the county being labelled a one-star authority overall by the Audit Commission, the lowest grade possible for a local council.

Surrey is one of just four authorities in the country to be given the rating.

It has been mooted the cost of the appeal could be as high as £500,000, although council leader Nick Skellett put the figure at a more modest £150,000.

Hazel Watson, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition at County Hall, said the money would be better spent improving services.

“I call on this administration to stop its appeal against Ofsted,” she told a full council meeting on Tuesday.

“This is simply to save face. There is no justification for wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds on legal bills.

“It is outrageous for the administration to gamble tax-payers’ money just to save face. The only people who will benefit are the lawyers.”

The results of an Ofsted inspection, published in July last year, found the council’s children’s services department to be inadequate.

It found that employees working with children had not been properly checked for criminal records, while disabled children were forced to stay at home because of inadequate care.

However, Cllr Skellett said Ofsted’s annual performance assessment did not take into account the overall service provided to all Surrey children. He added he did not agree with Ofsted’s view that there was little capacity to improve, claiming big changes have taken place in children’s services.

The appeal was necessary to stop the large number of inspections that come with a one-star rating while the move was essential for staff morale, added Cllr Skellett. “By restoring judgment on the overall services, we can avoid extra inspections in the future,” he said.

“We have an army of people looking at statistics and, if we were free from this, I am sure we could focus clearly on those things that are more important to us.”

Cllr Skellett said the authority had already spent £10,000 on the appeal.

“I honestly believe the judgment overall of Surrey being an inadequate authority is unfair,” he added.